The sorry history of homophobia in gaming is pretty well documented, so it's probably not a coincidence that a campaign to discourage anti-gay remarks includes a gaming piece among its poster ads.

ThinkB4YouSPeak, which hopes to raise awareness about anti-gay bias in America's schools by reducing the use of homophobic language, explains its mission at its website:

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) teens experience homophobic remarks and harassment throughout the school day, creating an atmosphere where they feel disrespected, unwanted and unsafe. Homophobic remarks such as “that’s so gay” are the most commonly heard; these slurs are often unintentional and a common part of teens’ vernacular. Most do not recognize the consequences, but the casual use of this language often carries over into more overt harassment.

The poster at left substitutes the commonly heard "That's so gay" with "That's so gamer guy who has more video games than friends." Stereotypical? Of course. But that would seem to be the point. Other posters include jock and cheerleader themes.

Comments

Penny Arcade posted an interesting take on the matter. I think they sum it up pretty well actually. I would link but since it's the current one it's just on http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/ . I'll update this to have the archive link when they archive it.

Everybody seems to have moved on now, but I just wanted to thank you all for an interesting and lively discussion, with very little of the usual internet argument antics like ad hominem, ad hitlerum, etc. If only all debates could be this civil. :)

Yes, I apoligize if I got a little worked up. I hope you all can accept my apology and give me a bit of a pass for being so worked up, I just get so intense about this kind of thing because it really does effect me in a very real and visceral way everyday.

I appreciate the comment. I get pretty riled up about these issues (gay or not anytime someone is, in my opinion, being mistreated or insulted unnecessarily) and I tend to want to just stick my foot in my mouth.

You haven't done anything wrong. I may not agree with you, but we're all entitled to our opinions. I for one really enjoy hearing ones that oppose my own. I think it's interesting to see what other people think of an issue, and sometimes I even end up changing my mind. Nobody is born knowing everything, myself included. ;) It's just so rare to have a serious conversation about something, especially something this inflammatory, and not have it devolve into mindless insults. This discussion has remained very civil, especially by internet standards, and I really have enjoyed it. Of course, I am only considering the posts that actually took part in the debate for real, not the immature one-off "this is gay" posts, which I'm sure their posters found to be terribly clever. >.>

The wording was incorrect. I meant what about someone's right to feel safe, to feel as if they can be safe in public being who they really are. A large majority of gay people don't have that right now, and that saddens me.

It offends me that to feel like I will have an equal shot at keeping my job I have to hide my sexuality from my coworkers. It sucks that to progress in my career I have to judge whether it's safe to reveal a very integral part of myself to people I interact with everyday. I'm not talking about having a conversation about that guy I banged last weekend, I'm talking about having my partner with me to a company family event. Being able to say "My boyfriend and I went to..."

I don't think anyone can understand the complete disconnectedness that many if not most gay people feel because they have to do this everyday in order to have a fair shot in the real world, and if you think even for a second our country ISN'T like that you're looking through rose colored glasses.

Yes, that is offensive to me, someone having more of a right to use a label that defines me and many of my best friends and loved ones as an insult, then I have to simply openly discuss my weekend without fearing for my safety, my job, and my general well being is extremely offensive.

Most of your post is kind of beside the point here. We're not talking about actual threats or harassment, which are truly wrong. We're talking about people using a word that you feel ownership of, in a way that you don't like.

Your last paragraph is an interesting point, but the problem is not that other people have a right to use a word in a widely accepted manner, the problem is that your right to express yourself is being trampled. The way to make things fair is not to trample other people's rights of expression too, it's to get you the rights you ought to have. I wish there were a quick, simple way to do that, I really do. Unfortunately, I think it's a generational thing we are going to have to wait out. In the meantime, deliberately misinterpreting people's use of the word "gay" can only serve to make you feel more isolated.

And continuing to use words that identify me to insult and belittle things and people only furthers to isolate me. As I said in another post above about cliques, everyone avoids feeling uncomfortable in whatever way they can. People using the term gay this way makes us feel more isolated because it makes us feel like we're worthy of being defamed and belittled.

I don't want a law or a rule or anything of that kind saying "you can't say gay". I want people to have enough respect for me and people like me to not use it out of consideration for us. Apparently that small amount of consideration is asking too much of some people.

Note I don't mean to direct this at anyone directly. Most the people on here are just arguing points of view. I know I post with terms like "you" a lot but I do it not to really target a poster but more the viewpoint. I probably need to work on that.

I agree with you that the real problem is real rights not being given to gay people, but I would at least settle for a semblance of respect while we worked on the more pointed issues.

I'm sorry that you feel that way, but you chose the lifestyle knowing that it would likely be unpopular. If you're going to hold unpopular views or live an unpopular lifestyle, you're going to have to be ready to get crap. You shouldn't have to worry about your physical safety or being fired for your orientation, but you're probably always going to have to deal with people judging you for your orientation because you're never going to make everyone like or accept it and, in fact, cannot stop people from holding negative opinions of it. If you want to put yourself out there, you're going to have to be ready to deal with people not accepting you. There's no right to feel comfortable.

Again, I'm sorry that you feel this way, and I hope that you can find a way to either gain acceptance or become comfortable despite not being completely accepted.

Chose my ass. I'm sorry but if you think anyone would CHOOSE to be openly hated by a large majority of the population you're not just ignorant you're completely out of your mind. I'm not even going to bother addressing your other points because you're obviously too out of touch with reality to even waste my time.

The weird thing here is that all of your points make sense, but I still feel that I shouldn't use gay as an insult. It seems to me that there's a difference between what we can say, and what we should say. For instance, you can swear wherever you want, but you wouldn't do it it polite society. It's sort of like witholding your opinions when it could be harmful. Because what it all comes down to is, you're using a term that refers to a, I'd venture, disenfranchised segment of the population, and giving it a negative connotation, and using it as an insult. I feel that you can use the word as an insult, but it wouldn't be polite.

I am still lost. By what right do Homo/Bi Sexuals have the right to dictate slang?

Question I am sorry to hear that you have not had much luck in finding people to game with but I submit; Might it not the game and the crowd that follows it? Maybe something more mature is in order? I mean before trying to tell the majority what words to use might I suggest you pay more attention to what games you buy/play or what chat rooms you visit.

Also if you are going for the shock value should the word Gay be replaced with say Queer? Used to mean odd, now of course is linked to male homosexuals. As is faggot (bundle of sticks or twigs) or tulip (flowers are insulting?) Tell you what. Stop the twisting of perfectly good other meaning names to fit homosexuals and I will consider not using words that might hurt your feeling. Both have about the same odds of happening.

I do not like this ad. Picking on another stereotype is a poor and immature way of addressing the issue. However, I do appreciate the sentiment, and the idea of "think before you speak" is a good one.

This is a general response to many of the comments:

What people don’t get is that it doesn’t matter what you mean to say, it matters how people interpret what you’re saying. Saying "that’s so gay" might not be a slander to homosexual people to you, but when people hear you say it, many of them will take it to mean that you are homophobic. Many gay people will take it to mean that they are not welcome. Some people, like me, will hear something like that and take it to mean that you are either homophobic, or an immature jerk. Either way I lose respect for you. How could I take it any other way when someone chooses to say it despite the fact that they know it’s highly offensive to many, many people? You are basically making the statement that you refuse to respect those people, so you lose respect. You might not care about my opinion, but I guarantee that I’m not the only one.

It hurts people. I’m sorry but it does. I’ve spoken to many people who are deeply bothered that they hear it everywhere. Some of these people have been beat up or kicked out of their homes for being gay. It’s not just an innocent phrase. It’s but a piece of a bigger pattern and every time they hear it, it feels like more affirmation that people hate them. It might not hurt your particular friend who happens to be gay, but if you say it enough you will hurt plenty of people. Do you really need more justification to cut one phrase out of your vocabulary? Do you really need to sit there and find reasons to say why you should be able to say whatever you want without guilt? Yes, we have free speech. But with freedom comes responsibility, you can say whatever you want, but you are also accountable for what you say. You can call things gay or say fag all you want, but also know that you are judged by your own words.

When I was younger, I said retarded a lot. I was informed by someone that many people found it highly offensive, so I stopped saying it. It wasn’t a big deal. My life was not changed dramatically. It wasn’t a big enough deal to wrack my brain on all the reasons I should be able to say it. I care about people and I care about respect. Anyone who does not isn’t deserving of consideration or respect.

"What people don’t get is that it doesn’t matter what you mean to say, it matters how people interpret what you’re saying."

Bullshit. It absolutely does matter what I mean. If someone wants to misinterpret my words, that is their problem, not mine. You can't just go around ignoring an extremely common usage of a word, always interpreting it instead as another usage which you find offensive, and then try to blame the people using the word. You are the one running counter to the flow of language.

They can't read your mind, their assumed meaning to your words IS the meaning of your words because you never take the time to correct them. SO congrats, a lot of people who have heard you say "that's gay" think you hate gay people. Welcome to the world.

Try to use that same logic to defend the meaning of N***er. You can't because no matter how far we get from it that will always be associated with what happened to them. Guess what, no one has stopped using the word gay to mean homosexuals. No one. You might use it for someone else, but you're still more likely to say "gay" when asked how to define a man who has sex with other men. You can't even claim that it's not the understood definition like some people try to claim that N***er has changed since it's use for slaves. Gay is still used, to this day and into the foreseeable future, to label homosexual people, most often homosexual men. It never lost that meaning, so yes, it is always associated and always understood.

You don't have to be a mindreader to know that "gay" can be used in a sense that has nothing to do with homosexuality. It's a very widespread and commonly understood way to use the word. We're not talking about something someone just made up and expects everybody else to magically know.

Nobody has ever heard me say "that's gay", because I don't say it. :P

Nigger never came into use as a general pejorative, it has always been used to target a specific group of people. There is no comparison to make here. And a word doesn't have to lose all its old meanings to pick up new ones. Look at how many meanings set has. How do we ever keep them all straight? Why, it's our good friend Mr. Context! "Gay" has had many meanings over the years. This is just one more.

Ah but you expect everyone who hears it to make an informed judgement based on a supposed understanding of the meaning. You can't expect EVERYONE to know it as a pejorative. I heard this all the time growing up, I knew everytime it meant homosexual, and all the people using it knew because the context they used it in was intended to insult other male peers by calling their sexual orientation into question. That was within the last four years, cultural understanding of language does NOT shift that quickly.

People will always be hypersensitive about words used perjoratively that they believe could or do apply to them. Me, I hate when people say psycho, because it's insensitive to people who suffer from psychosis or other mental illnesses.

Ever since it became no longer okay to make fun of retarded people, the mentally ill are the last bastion of "okay to make jokes about." Once you pay attention to it, you'll start to notice how hilarious prime time TV writers apparently think mental instability or antidepressant medication is.

But I'm not going to make any damn posters, because I accept that the world is full of people who don't think about words or use language the same way I do, and that flaming jerkoffs make up a huge fraction of earth's population. That's the world we live in folks, so when somebody makes fun of a homeless person suffering from schizophrenia, I get on with my life. Just like these gaywads should get on with theirs.

I applaud your thick skin. It seems you are equipped to deal with the sometimes harsh reality of a world where people may speak freely. If only more were like you, we wouldn't have to waste our time with PC tripe like this.

Political correctness is things like banning 'Baa baa Black Sheep' for having the word black in, if someone said something like 'That's so Negro', instead of 'That's so gay' then it would still be hurtful, not down to 'political correctness', but because it's associating the word 'Negro' with the implication of stupidity, failure and pointlessness is just as much labelling as using the word 'gay'.

But "negro" never caught on as a general pejorative term, while "gay" has. If you go around spouting the word "negro", there is only one meaning that will come to mind. If you continue to willfully ignore this distinction, then you have only yourself to blame when you feel offended.

Yes, that's exactly what it means. Enough people use and understand "gay" as a general pejorative term, without necessarily referring to homosexuals, to make that an acceptable use of the word. It's exceedingly widespread, as this campaign and everybody in this discussion admits (and some lament ;). Negro, on the other hand, does not have a general use (Spanish excepted, of course) and has only been used as a slur aimed at black people. So when somebody says "gay", they may or may not mean anything about homosexuals. You have to judge from context. When someone says "negro", it is definitely targeted at black people. This is why one can be ok and one is never ok. This must be the fourth or fifth time I've tried to explain this concept to you. Do you really still not get it?

So if a small group of people began using Negro as a general prejorative for "bad" and it suddenly became all the rage in american language, and none of those people using it were thinking about black people when they said it your judgement says that's just fine.

I'm sorry, I understand your reasoning, I don't agree. The fact that over time it lost the connection doesn't change the fact that the entire reason the term "gay" has ever meant stupid or campy is because of it's initial (in terms of the "common" usage you're defending) connection to the homosexual meaning. Every use of the word in it's new pejorative stems from that connection. So no, it's not ok.

No, the multiple, acceptable definitions of gay make it okay to use in some other context than "homosexual." "Negro" has only ever really had one definition that is viewed as offensive by most of the black community. In fact, I'm looking at the Oxford English Dictionary right now, and every definition of "negro" relates in some way to black people whereas only one of the fifteen definitions of "gay" relates to homosexuality. Trying to connect the two words is silly, and I hope that most people here recognize a red herring when they see one.

So let me see, out of ALL those definitions, did any of them hold a negative context besides homosexual to anyone?

I suppose "bright and showy" or "brightly colored" might to someone like me who hates extremely bright colors.

Or maybe depressed people find "happiness or merriment" to be offensive, so that's their meaning.

Or someone could be using the older version of gay which refers to prostitues, womanizers, and brothels. Though I find it hard to believe they wouldn't just use the terms "slut" or "whore" for those, especially in todays vernacular.

Out of all the definitions I found for gay ALL DAY, the only one that to any group I know of has a negative connotation meaning bad, stupid, or wrong, is homosexual. So explain again where this becomes ok?

Why isn't it okay? Because some people don't like it? If you're using a decent dictionary, a number of the definitions had negative connotations. The definition of "happy" was often used with a sense of depreciation. The definition "wanton, lewd, or lascivious" is obviously negative and often referred to hedonistic, promiscuous people. It can also mean "reckless" in the old phrase "to get gay." People need to suck it up and realize they chose a word with multiple--often negative--meanings. If they don't like some of the meanings, maybe they should change their word instead of expecting everyone else to drop legitimate definitions to avoid offending a small number of people. Why should everyone else change just to make them feel better?

Yes that sort of injustice happened, but I think we're getting over that now. Homosexuals are even beginning to get the fun rights like the right to marry, and I'll be rather surprised if we don't start seeing people push for special homosexual rights in the name of equality (yeah, special rights for equality doesn't make sense, but it seems to be how we do things).

Thank you for the acknowledgement, I would replace "happened" with "happening" in most of my examples (we're still second class citizens, there are still a lot of physically violent and deadly attacks here).

And I will definitley agree with you on the "special rights" comment. I don't agree with giving someone a leg up because some time ago someone else was mean to them. In regards to race I can see the logic, in regards to sexual orientation no. It's not like there is such a thing as a gay bloodline. My parents are both completely straight as is my sibling and as far as I am aware I am the first openly gay person in my family.

The difference being... I'm a grown-up. Getting all worked up about this kind of shit, whether it's going in either direction or both, is stupid.

On a personal note, I'm getting really fucking tired of being told what I am and am not allowed to say based solely on the colour of my skin, my gender and my sexual orientation, none of which are anything over which I have any control. If I say something offensive and someone's offended then that's my problem and theirs. The consequences being that I now have to deal with the offended party. If I choose to monitor my language (and I do, not because I recognize any ideal that "disallows" me from saying certain things, but simply because I don't like being hurtful) then fine, but if I choose not to then the consequences are that I deal with the individual(s) who were offended.

I am in no way beholden to anyone, simply because they're different from me. Sorry. Neither I nor the world owes you anything just because you don't fit some self-defined role in society. And I sure as hell resent organized groups representing the interests of a sub-set of society trying to censor my speech. Shit like this ad actually makes me WANT to say those things, simply out of some sense of rebellion.

Last I checked people didn't have the right to not be offended. Next time someone says something that's offensive, just do what us straight, white guys have been doing for years... Recognize that some people are assholes, ignore them and anything they have to say and move on.

"That's so gay" is not (as I understand it) anti-gay. Words are often used for different things and in different contexts. 'Geek', for example, doesn't always refer to a sideshow performer, and when people use it in its more common meaning they are not discriminating against the sideshow performers.

Last time I checked, 'gay' still meant 'happy' and 'homosexual' as well as 'lame'. That doesn't mean that the person using the word in any context thinks gays are necessarily happy or lame.

Wow. Personally, I'm not insulted if someone says I have more games than friends. My collection is big enough that I wouldn't want that many friends because A) I wouldn't be able to keep their names straight and B) I'd always feel bad because I wouldn't be able to spend time with even half of them each weekend. Someone obviously didn't know anything about gamers when they wrote this.

On another note, gay people are welcome to say stuff like "that's so straight" or "that's so Christian/conservative/insertgroupthatislikelyagainsthomosexuality." Personally, I wouldn't be offended if they used any of the groups or whatever that I belong to. In fact, I'd probably fall over laughing if I heard someone say "that's so straight," and I wouldn't take it as an insult to myself or my sexual preferences. Of course, I'm a straight white male, so I guess I don't matter anyone. You're free to insult me or say whatever you like, I'm not defended by any sort of politically correct standards.

Whilst I absolutely support the rights of the LGBT community (one gay mate, one mate about to have a sex change and 2 of the best friends I've ever had are bi), there's got to be a point where people toughen the fuck up, get a thicker skin, call the people who insult them idiots and then get on with their lives.

I've been discriminated against for various reasons through my life and the one thing I've learned is that if you don't respond in just that way, you give far too much value to the opinions of idiots and you can forget just how great you are. In effect you HELP the idiots win. Does anyone want idiots in charge? Can you imagine a country ruled by an idiot?

Just like I am free to think its stupid. As someone with multiple gay friends and family members, I can assure you that people are indeed born that way. Talk to me after you see someone try to kill themselves because they were brought up being taught that being gay was 'wrong, immoral, and evil' and they felt that suicide was better than admitting that they are homosexual to people they grew up with out of fear of being rejected and hated by them forever.

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ZippyDSMlee: .....win8 hates any left over hidden install partitions from other version of windows....only waste 5 hours finding that out...its ahrder than you think keeping up with 4 or 5 HDDS......03/03/2015 - 4:44am

Matthew Wilson: I am going to pax east, any games you guys want me to check out?03/02/2015 - 11:23pm

ZippyDSMlee: No one remembers the days of Cinemagic and Cynergy eh? :P, meh even MGS is getting to film like....03/02/2015 - 8:44pm

MechaTama31: I was about to get all defensive about liking Metal Gear Solid, but then I saw that he was talking about "cinematic" as a euphemism for "crappy framerate".03/02/2015 - 8:29pm

prh99: Just replace cinematic with the appropriate synonym for poo and you'll have gist of any press release.03/02/2015 - 5:34pm

Monte: Though from a business side, i would agree with the article. While it would be smarter for developers to slow down, you can't expect EA, Activision or ubisoft to do something like that. Nintnedo's gotta get the third party back.02/28/2015 - 4:36pm

Monte: Though it does also help that nintendo's more colorful style is a lot less reliant on graphics than more realistic games. Wind Waker is over 10 years old and still looks good for its age.02/28/2015 - 4:33pm

Monte: With the Wii, nintnedo had the right idea. Hold back on shiny graphics and focus on the gameplay experience. Unfortunatly everyone else keeps pushing for newer graphics and it matters less and less each generation. I can barely notice the difference02/28/2015 - 4:29pm

Monte: ON third party developers; i kinda think they should slow down to nintendo's pace. They bemoan the rising costs of AAA gaming, but then constantly push for the best graphics which is makes up a lot of those costs. Be easier to afford if they held back02/28/2015 - 4:27pm

Matthew Wilson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2015/02/28/the-world-is-nintendos-if-only-theyd-take-it/ I think this is a interesting op-ed, but yeah it kind of is stating the obvious.02/28/2015 - 2:52pm